


Mettle

by blackfin



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, I honestly have no idea how to tag this, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Retelling, Slow Burn, a retelling of botw based on the idea of ganon not being just the villain from fern gully, and actually having an active role in the story, basically just:
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 21:43:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16584746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackfin/pseuds/blackfin
Summary: Hours after waking with no memories of who he is or anything else really, Link is set on a quest to put an end to an ominous force that threatens the world. Along the way, he rediscovers friends he has lost, secrets his memories took with them and a better understanding of himself.It isn't easy being the Champion of Light, Hero of Hyrule but it isn't a path he'll be walking alone. By his side is a constant friend, one who gently guides him along this tumultuous journey towards the ultimate confrontation, and the many friends he makes as he moves steadily towards liberating the world





	1. Please...Save Me

**Author's Note:**

> i've wanted to write like a retelling of botw for a while now so...here it is, I guess   
> let it also be known: i hate writing tags, summaries and titles   
> they are the bane of my existence

_Link._

 

 

 

_Link, wake up._

 

 

 

 

_It’s time. It’s finally time._

 

 

 

_The light must break through the darkness once more._

 

 

 

_Hope must return to Hyrule._

 

 

 

 

_Link…please..._

 

 

 

 

_I can already hear its voice._

 

 

 

_I’m sorry._

 

 

 

_I’m so sorry._

 

 

 

_I tried to withstand it but it is a part of me I can no longer deny._

 

 

 

_Save me, Link._

 

 

 

_Please._

 

 

 

_Save me._

 

 

 

_I don’t…I don’t want to hurt anyone ever again._

 

 

 

_I don’t want…to hurt you._

 

 

 

_Please._

 

 

 

_I’ll be waiting._

 

 

 

_Waiting for you._

 

 

 

_Forgive me._


	2. Brand New World

He couldn’t bring himself to move. 

The water he was surrounded by had long since drained away to who knows where. The faint blue light coming from the bizarre contraption hanging over top him was enough to allow him a dim view of the room he was in, not that there was much to look at. It was just a chamber of some sort – nondescript, expect for the strange arrangement of…stuff above him. When he looked down at himself, he found a small albeit muscular, strong looking body that was incredibly scarred – there didn’t seem to be an inch of this…his body that wasn’t marred in some way. Holding a hand out in front of his face, he curled and uncurled his…fingers, numbly watching the muscles move underneath tanned, scarred skin. Quiet panic thudded dully in the back of his mind. Cold swamped his exposed skin. 

This…what was this? Well, obviously, it was a hand but who did it belong to? Him, of course but who was he? And there was the question of the hour. Just a few moments ago, he, whoever he was, had awoken in this…bath, of some sort. What exactly had awoken him, he wasn’t sure. He thought he had heard a voice, someone speaking to him in a strained, desperate voice that made his heart ache, tears springing up to the corners of his eyes as he was roughly wrenched into consciousness, blinking blearily in the dim light, his mind utterly blank and his head already beginning to whirl nauseously with confusion. 

Problem was, all the questions he had, (where was he? Why was he in this weird bath bed hybrid thing? Who was talking to him before? Was someone even talking to him before? What had they said to him? He could still remember the tone of their voice, the heavy emotion laced through the gibberish words but couldn’t recall what they said. Who was he? That…that was probably the most important question. Who was he? What had happened to him? Why couldn’t he remember anything? He obviously wasn’t a young child nor a newborn so he must’ve had some kind of memories so…where were they? Why were they not in his head? Why, when he tried to remember something, he just came up with a huge, ugly, terrifying blank?) there were no answers to them. 

At least, none to be found here. All he was doing while lying here was either going around and around in circles, easily exhausting himself and aggravating the pain beginning to pulse somewhere deep in the center of his brain, or just staring upwards, blank and empty, not thinking of anything, barely keeping his head above the stormy waters of anxiety and panic. He knew he couldn’t keep lying there. Not if he wanted to figure out anything but getting up and moving, seeing what was beyond the bath/bed was more terrifying than the lack of all knowledge of everything pertaining to him. 

Sighing heavily, he wearily scrubbed at his face, halfway wishing that he was still asleep. Silence pressed down onto him. There was nothing to be heard, nothing to be seen. He was in a vacuum, utterly alone, isolated. Abruptly sitting up, he dropped his hands away, moved to crawl out of the strange bath/bed and froze, a tremor racing through his chilled body. Well, strike that one thing: he wasn’t actually alone. Sitting cross legged in front of what be a door at the far end of the room was a man. One that he knew for a fact hadn’t been there the first time he had taken a look around. Blinking rapidly, his heart leaping up into his throat, he went to do…something, he wasn’t really sure what yet but point was, he put one hand forward, only for it to slip on the smooth, slippery surface, leading him to go tumbling down to the floor. 

Or, he would have, if a strong hand hadn’t caught him by arm, catching him right before he was about to break his nose on the stone. 

“Easy there, little one.” Said a deep, rumbling voice from somewhere above him, “Take it slow.” 

Panting shallowly, cold beads of sweat popping up on his forehead, he held still as he was pulled up and backwards, gently set back into the bed/bath hybrid. Brushing hair out of his eyes, he looked up to, unsurprisingly, find the man standing there, watching him with calm, guarded golden eyes. While he took a moment to catch his breath, willing his heartrate to slow back to a normal, not slamming so hard against his ribs, it felt like it was trying to burst out and take off running into the hills, he studied the man. Tall…very tall, actually. Very, very tall. He towered over him, forcing him to have to crane his head back a considerable amount just to be able to make eye contact. Muscular, far more than he was; broad in the shoulders and well, everywhere else; handsome with a sharp jaw, long scarlet hair that was tied up in a loose bun, an elegant hooked nose and a strong brow. 

“Thank you.” He mumbled, “Who are you?” 

“You may call me Ganon.” The man replied, slowly lowering himself down onto one knee. Setting a large hand on the side of the bed/bath thing, he said, “You don’t know who I am.” 

“That is why I asked.” He replied, crossing his legs, dropping his hands uselessly in-between his thighs, “Am I supposed to know who you are?” 

“What do you remember?” Ganon asked instead of answering. 

“Nothing,” he replied with a shrug, a rush of cold flooding down into his stomach at having finally said it, “I don’t even know my own name.” 

“Link.” Ganon said softly, dropping his golden gaze down to the floor. 

“My name is Link?” He repeated, the sound, the syllables not sounding at all familiar. 

“It is.” Raising his head once more, Ganon rubbed his temple, sighed and said, “I suppose I should not be surprised. Considering the damage you took, and how long you’ve been asleep. It is not too farfetched to learn that it had such an effect on you.” 

“Are you talking to me or yourself? If it’s too me, could you please speak clearly? None of this ‘it did this’ and ‘it did that’?”

“There will be time for that later.” Ganon replied dismissively, standing so abruptly that the sudden movement caused Link to jump backwards a little, “First, there are clothes in that nearby chest. We need to get some food in you.” He paused, turned slightly and quietly commented, “You haven’t eaten in 100 years, after all.” 

With that, he walked away, leaving Link to gawk silently after him. Did…did he just say 100 years?! Was he implying that he had been asleep for 100 years? That couldn’t be possible. How could he have been asleep for 100 years? That didn’t make any sense. Scrambling forward, being careful not to fall once again since Ganon was already at the door, which did end up being an actual door – he pressed…something, Link didn’t see what and it slid open, revealing another chamber that didn’t look any different from where he was but he could see what was definitely sunlight filtering in from somewhere – maybe a doorway or opening at the front. 

Heart jumping at the sight of what must be natural light, Link momentarily forgot what Ganon had told him. Sunlight, outside, not in this stuffy, cold chamber, a first look at the world he lived in! Link restrained the extreme urge to just go bounding out into whatever waited beyond this and the other chamber long enough to get him out of the bath/bed thing but once his feet were on the cool stone floor, he was moving before he fully registered it. Dashing past Ganon, who called after him – something about clothes – but choosing to momentarily ignore him, Link made it to what was most definitely the exit: a steep dirt wall, in front of which was a fairly large puddle of water and a couple of boxes. 

Getting up proved easy. He clambered up the stiff dirt, yanked himself over the lip, sucking in a deep breath that was full of the scent of pine and grass, and bolted out into the sunlight. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust but when they did, his steps faltered. His bottom jaw dropped slightly. A sense of awe slammed into him hard enough to nearly knock him over onto his butt. Beautiful. The land stretched out around him, everywhere he could look, all of it was so beautiful! Vibrant green of grass, trees, forests stretched out as far as he could see. Above him was an ocean of blue, dotted with graceful little wisps of white clouds that drifted aimlessly across the sky. 

Turning to his right revealed a path that lead directly down. High atop a hill was the ruins of a…church? A castle? At this distance, he couldn’t tell which it was. Regardless of what kind of establishment it used to be, there were weird…things surrounding it. A pang of what might’ve been fear…or anger resonated from somewhere deep in his chest the moment he laid eyes on whatever they were. Well, whatever those things were, he wasn’t exactly itching to get close to them. Turning slowly on the spot, drinking in everything, millions of questions popping up like bubbles in his mind – bursting just as soon as they appeared, quickly replaced with another – Link saw Ganon coming out of the chamber, a heavy frown on his handsome face, clothing slung over one muscular arm. 

“Do you mean to go rambling about in naught but your underwear?” He called irritably as he strode over to Link. 

“Where are we?” Link cried excitedly, “What is this place? It’s beautiful!” 

Sighing in exasperation, though he noted there was a glimmer of fond amusement in Ganon’s golden eyes, he said, “Right now, we’re on the Great Plateau.”

“That tells me nothing.” Link said cheerfully, then pointed at the structure to his right, “What’s that?” 

“The Temple of Time.” Ganon responded, handing him the clothing, which ended up being a well-worn shirt and trousers. 

“Also tells me nothing. What are those things around it?” He asked, quickly tugging on the clothing, finding both the shirt and trousers to be a little big. 

“Guardians.” Ganon said quietly, “I will explain more about them later but for now, food.”

At the mention of food, Link’s stomach loudly rumbled. The corners of Ganon’s lips quirked up into the slightest hint of a smile. Holding out one of his large hands to Link, he said softly, “Come along, little one. Food first then I promise, I will explain as much as I can.” 

Well, it wasn’t like there was much more he could do. This world was beautiful but…none of it was familiar. The more he looked, the more he realized that it was alien to him. While that didn’t take away from the beauty surrounding him, it did prove to be a realization that made him acutely aware of just what kind of position he was in: no memory of himself or anyone else, no knowledge of how anything worked…vulnerable. Utterly, completely vulnerable so, as much as it annoyed him to come to that bottom line – that he was, currently, in no state to protect himself from whatever this new, possibly incredibly dangerous world might throw at him – it was probably best to stick with the one person that seemed to know what was going on and was, actually, there with him. 

Taking Ganon’s hand, finding the palm warm and calloused against his own, a sense of comfort washed over him when strong, broad fingers closed, squeezing firmly. Looking down to where Ganon’s large hand completely enveloped his own, Link thought for a moment – it might not be the wisest to trust a complete stranger when he was in such a situation but really, what other choice was there? Simple answer: there was no other choice. What else could he do? Run off without any kind of idea of where he should go or what he should do? That seemed about as foolish as just blindly trusting the man currently holding his hand. So, why go with Ganon? He didn’t really have an answer for that. Only a…feeling, an instinct, almost that whoever this man really was…he was just as lost as Link was. 

Glancing up at him, he hesitated for a moment then asked quietly, “Why help me?” 

“You already have the answer to that.” Ganon responded then offered a small smile when Link frowned deeply at the cryptic-ness as his response. All he had was a feeling – that didn’t mean much right now. Maybe his instincts were absolute shit. Maybe he had piss poor perception. He couldn’t really rely on what he ‘might’ know – that was bound to get him grievously injured. Leaning down, bringing his face closer, surrounding him with a scent of spices, sand and salt, he said, “I promise, I will explain everything. Please, just follow me for now.” 

He lightly tugged on Link’s arm, urging him to get moving. Seeing no other option, Link quietly did so, falling into step behind Ganon, watching the gentle sway of some loose tendrils of scarlet hair as the stranger led him off to somewhere.


End file.
